R8 Announced

[Big Block Power]

[I don’t know about where you are but in my neck of the woods 98% of the Cobalt boat owners don’t own a trailer. The dealer runs them up in the spring, puts them in the owners boat house and picked them up in the fall. I don’t see the weight of the R7 being a problem.

Right - that's kind of the point: not everyone is in the same situation you are in.

As to the R8, it’s hard to decide until you’ve driven one, don’t you think? Maybe with Malibu owning Cobalt, people wanting light and fast and people wanting a more substantial boat with a luxury feel will stick with Cobalt?

I am sure that's what they are thinking. Although it's a little schizophrenic when they spend the whole promo video for their 7200 lb+ boat showing watersports.

Ultimately, the market will decide.

- Mark

I'd like to run a survey on how many people are hauling their 27' boats back and forth to the ramp every weekend. I'm betting not too many. But that is beside the point, once you are pulling an R7 every weekend, you are probably are better off with a 2500 so does it really matter if it weights 1,800 lbs more?

I also don't see any conflict with a 7,200 lb boat promoting water sports. Clearly this boat is aimed at the older boater - look at the driver and the grandfather bare footing. They are trying to show the boat has plenty of performance for water sports while providing a luxury experience.

I can't wait to water test an R6 - unfortunately it won't be until next spring. The first one won't arrive at my dealer until December and everything will be well frozen before then up here.

Bobrae come on down to tanks lake. Let's get you in one of these bad boys! I bet tank would even put you up for the weekend!

[BobRae99]

Right - that's kind of the point: not everyone is in the same situation you are in.



I am sure that's what they are thinking. Although it's a little schizophrenic when they spend the whole promo video for their 7200 lb+ boat showing watersports.

Ultimately, the market will decide.

- Mark

I'd like to run a survey on how many people are hauling their 27' boats back and forth to the ramp every weekend. I'm betting not too many. But that is beside the point, once you are pulling an R7 every weekend, you are probably are better off with a 2500 so does it really matter if it weights 1,800 lbs more?

I also don't see any conflict with a 7,200 lb boat promoting water sports. Clearly this boat is aimed at the older boater - look at the driver and the grandfather bare footing. They are trying to show the boat has plenty of performance for water sports while providing a luxury experience.

I can't wait to water test an R6 - unfortunately it won't be until next spring. The first one won't arrive at my dealer until December and everything will be well frozen before then up here.

Bobrae come on down to tanks lake. Let's get you in one of these bad boys! I bet tank would even put you up for the weekend!

Unfortunately neither Americans or Canadians can drive across the Can/US border these days and I don't really feel like getting on an airplane, so a US visit will have to wait. I had planned to flatbed my 1976 TR6 to Minneapolis this spring for some engine work. Sadly, because of travel restrictions its had to sit in my warehouse all summer.

[willyswagon]

I'd be one on the launch every trip side of the survey(26 SD).

There's lots of boaters out here that only have the boat in the water when we are using it.
Many of people that come to the boat shows and showroom preface the conversation with, What's the largest bow rider I can tow with my 1/2 ton.
That being said, the manufactures are building boats for markets that they believe to be there.

Nice looking boat, but a little hefty for my tow rig

[Big Block Power]

I'd be one on the launch every trip side of the survey(26 SD).

There's lots of boaters out here that only have the boat in the water when we are using it.
Many of people that come to the boat shows and showroom preface the conversation with, What's the largest bow rider I can tow with my 1/2 ton.
That being said, the manufactures are building boats for markets that they believe to be there.

Nice looking boat, but a little hefty for my tow rig

And all some owners want is a larger gas tank

[BobRae99]

I'd be one on the launch every trip side of the survey(26 SD).

There's lots of boaters out here that only have the boat in the water when we are using it.
Many of people that come to the boat shows and showroom preface the conversation with, What's the largest bow rider I can tow with my 1/2 ton.
That being said, the manufactures are building boats for markets that they believe to be there.

Nice looking boat, but a little hefty for my tow rig

I guess I didn't think about that. In my area, anyone with a $200,000 boat has got a $750,000 cabin with a boathouse/lift or some sort of cabin with a marina close by. A fellow I know in my lake community keeps his boat on a trailer in his back yard and puts it in when he wants to go for a ride. Its an 18' boat and he finds it a hassle, so it went in the water 4 times this summer. People do come out to our beach community with their boats and use the public ramp but few with boats larger than 21' or so.

The enjoyment for me is to come out to the lake for the weekend on Friday, have supper then bike 3 minutes with my kids to the marina, uncover the boat and head out onto the lake for some sunset waterskiing or on Saturday, some tubing or cruising with friends. the idea of coming out to the lake with a 27' boat in tow behind a 1500 or 2500 with a trip to the ramp every time I want to go out on the lake would be a non starter for me.

[CobaltDeadHead]

I'd be one on the launch every trip side of the survey(26 SD).

There's lots of boaters out here that only have the boat in the water when we are using it.
Many of people that come to the boat shows and showroom preface the conversation with, What's the largest bow rider I can tow with my 1/2 ton.
That being said, the manufactures are building boats for markets that they believe to be there.

Nice looking boat, but a little hefty for my tow rig

I guess I didn't think about that. In my area, anyone with a $200,000 boat has got a $750,000 cabin with a boathouse/lift or some sort of cabin with a marina close by. A fellow I know in my lake community keeps his boat on a trailer in his back yard and puts it in when he wants to go for a ride. Its an 18' boat and he finds it a hassle, so it went in the water 4 times this summer. People do come out to our beach community with their boats and use the public ramp but few with boats larger than 21' or so.

The enjoyment for me is to come out to the lake for the weekend on Friday, have supper then bike 3 minutes with my kids to the marina, uncover the boat and head out onto the lake for some sunset waterskiing or on Saturday, some tubing or cruising with friends. the idea of coming out to the lake with a 27' boat in tow behind a 1500 or 2500 with a trip to the ramp every time I want to go out on the stare would be a non starter for me.

At our Marina they offer fee a based ramp for the general public. There was a guy this summer that came like every other weekend with a 35' sailboat. He'd spend well over an hour rigging it in the parking lot and launch for the day.

I couldn't believe his commitment. Perhaps he just didn't want to spend or have the budget to spend North of $6k for a slip on the lake that would accommodate a boat his size.

[mdadgar]

The enjoyment for me is to come out to the lake for the weekend on Friday, have supper then bike 3 minutes with my kids to the marina, uncover the boat and head out onto the lake for some sunset waterskiing or on Saturday, some tubing or cruising with friends.

Sure, I think we'd all enjoy that.

That doesn't make it automatically an option for many, many of us.

the idea of coming out to the lake with a 27' boat in tow behind a 1500 or 2500 with a trip to the ramp every time I want to go out on the lake would be a non starter for me.

Depends on how bad you want to boat.

On the west side of the lake I boat on, the launch ramp is 5 lanes wide and I've waited 45 minutes to retrieve the boat at the end of the day.

Lots of people trailer every single time.

- Mark

[tgrace98]

I'd be one on the launch every trip side of the survey(26 SD).

There's lots of boaters out here that only have the boat in the water when we are using it.
Many of people that come to the boat shows and showroom preface the conversation with, What's the largest bow rider I can tow with my 1/2 ton.
That being said, the manufactures are building boats for markets that they believe to be there.

Nice looking boat, but a little hefty for my tow rig

I guess I didn't think about that. In my area, anyone with a $200,000 boat has got a $750,000 cabin with a boathouse/lift or some sort of cabin with a marina close by. A fellow I know in my lake community keeps his boat on a trailer in his back yard and puts it in when he wants to go for a ride. Its an 18' boat and he finds it a hassle, so it went in the water 4 times this summer. People do come out to our beach community with their boats and use the public ramp but few with boats larger than 21' or so.

The enjoyment for me is to come out to the lake for the weekend on Friday, have supper then bike 3 minutes with my kids to the marina, uncover the boat and head out onto the lake for some sunset waterskiing or on Saturday, some tubing or cruising with friends. the idea of coming out to the lake with a 27' boat in tow behind a 1500 or 2500 with a trip to the ramp every time I want to go out on the lake would be a non starter for me.

I would agree with that 100%. Before buying my lake home on Table Rock I use to boat the Mississippi river. We dry stacked our boat and would trailer to all the lakes around Missouri. It rarely got trailered once we got up to a 27' boat. It was on the brink of not being able to be towed by a standard 1/2 ton truck. R8 is not something you want to haul around. Heck I would say even the R6 is now pushing it with its 5800'bs dry weight. Figure fuel, gear, trailer and you are not pulling that with even a Suburban or Tahoe.

Another thing that should be brought to attention is these new R series boats and their heavier weight. Is how much more fuel these are going to consume. If you notice the R6 and R8 both have larger fuel tanks than the R5 and R7. Not a big deal right now as fuel is cheap. But once we get back to 4-5 bucks on the lake you will see people start to be more fuel consumption concerned.

[BobRae99]

I'd be one on the launch every trip side of the survey(26 SD).

There's lots of boaters out here that only have the boat in the water when we are using it.
Many of people that come to the boat shows and showroom preface the conversation with, What's the largest bow rider I can tow with my 1/2 ton.
That being said, the manufactures are building boats for markets that they believe to be there.

Nice looking boat, but a little hefty for my tow rig

I guess I didn't think about that. In my area, anyone with a $200,000 boat has got a $750,000 cabin with a boathouse/lift or some sort of cabin with a marina close by. A fellow I know in my lake community keeps his boat on a trailer in his back yard and puts it in when he wants to go for a ride. Its an 18' boat and he finds it a hassle, so it went in the water 4 times this summer. People do come out to our beach community with their boats and use the public ramp but few with boats larger than 21' or so.

The enjoyment for me is to come out to the lake for the weekend on Friday, have supper then bike 3 minutes with my kids to the marina, uncover the boat and head out onto the lake for some sunset waterskiing or on Saturday, some tubing or cruising with friends. the idea of coming out to the lake with a 27' boat in tow behind a 1500 or 2500 with a trip to the ramp every time I want to go out on the lake would be a non starter for me.

I would agree with that 100%. Before buying my lake home on Table Rock I use to boat the Mississippi river. We dry stacked our boat and would trailer to all the lakes around Missouri. It rarely got trailered once we got up to a 27' boat. It was on the brink of not being able to be towed by a standard 1/2 ton truck. R8 is not something you want to haul around. Heck I would say even the R6 is now pushing it with its 5800'bs dry weight. Figure fuel, gear, trailer and you are not pulling that with even a Suburban or Tahoe.

Another thing that should be brought to attention is these new R series boats and their heavier weight. Is how much more fuel these are going to consume. If you notice the R6 and R8 both have larger fuel tanks than the R5 and R7. Not a big deal right now as fuel is cheap. But once we get back to 4-5 bucks on the lake you will see people start to be more fuel consumption concerned.

I don't think we know about fuel burn yet. Maybe the tanks are bigger because the R6/8 use more fuel than their predecessors, or maybe they are bigger because all variants will offer a surf model. My R3 holds 40 gallons while my friends 23' Centurion holds 80 gallons. We go through a lot of fuel surfing all day at 10.5 mph. Cobalt has said the R6 will only be off the R5 speeds by one or two mph achievable by a more efficient hull.

Anyway, I feel for people who have to trailer back and forth to the lake every weekend. I guess I'm just lazy. We use a mini van to drive out to the cottage because with all the space, we don't have to pack the car - we just throw everything in the back, including bikes, close the hatch and take off - see? Lazy.

[akorcovelos]

I’ve done both wet slip and trailering. Trailering sucks, and I only have to take it 150 yards to our private boat launch. I have a 25’ boat, 27/28’ starts to get annoying, especially through residential neighborhoods.

Cobalt clearly doesn’t care about performance anymore, which I just don’t get with all the killer marine power options these days. Nice boat, but on paper it seems like it would be a snooze to captain.

[Big Block Power]

Would I want my boat on or at the water hell yea. Does it bother me to tow it 11 hours to have fun with my chat buds hell no. If I was single I would do it every weekend.
Towing doesn't bother me 1 bit. Only thing I don't like is putting up or down my tower. But that's another story.
I like throwing our stuff in the boat at home and bringing it to the launch. I actually like loading and launching my boat.

[dsthomas]

Would I want my boat on or at the water hell yea. Does it bother me to tow it 11 hours to have fun with my chat buds hell no. If I was single I would do it every weekend.
Towing doesn't bother me 1 bit. Only thing I don't like is putting up or down my tower. But that's another story.
I like throwing our stuff in the boat at home and bringing it to the launch. I actually like loading and launching my boat.

I’m like that as well. Love towing, launching, and loading our boat. We have it down to a science... Wife, Kids, and my self all have a job to do, we can get it ready to launch in about 10 minutes and on the trailer ready to tow in about 10 minutes. Our ramp at the lake we frequent here close to the house isn’t real busy, if we had to wait 20-30 minutes to launch and retrieve every time that’d be a different story; then we’d probably consider a slip.

[Table Rockin]

The only thing I miss from trailering was being able to have your boat next to you at all times and thus tinker and obsessively clean it. What I hate the most is long lines (and poor courtesy) at ramps. Slipping is where it’s at boys/gals. Wish everyone had a opportunity for that. The towing itself I’ve never minded. I used to pull heavily laden flatbed trailers with one ton trucks all through HS and college summers. Trailering is a breeze unless you have an under spec’d rig. Yes amazing what was trusted to me as a 17 yr old...lol

[Table Rockin]

Not much new compared to the R6. The boat is 1,800 lbs heavier than the R7. It will be interesting to see what the prop charts show for speed and time to plane. Otherwise, looks nice.

website says 6400 lbs dry weight. So its really only 800 lbs heavier than the R7....which is good. Fuel capacity says 80 gallons compared to R7s 77 gallons. Perhaps some of the initial information on weight included things like the tower and whatnot. In any event, if true (and I assume it is) its shouldnt be THAT big of a deal. I'd still drop a 430 in it though

https://cobaltboats.com/sterndrive/r-series/r8/

[mdadgar]

website says 6400 lbs dry weight. So its really only 800 lbs heavier than the R7....which is good.

That was a pretty bad typo.

- Mark